OLE Nepal has been working on its digital library, E-Pustakalaya, since the summer of 2008. The project has made significant progress, with the library now publicly launched and featuring basic functionalities. Additional content and features will be continuously added.
In the early stages, the Nepal Library Foundation (NLF), Canada, provided startup funds to help OLE Nepal maintain a robust and publicly accessible website for E-Pustakalaya. This funding helped purchase a server for the library. From January 2009, NLF also extended support by hiring two full-time coordinators for content acquisition. These coordinators have been working with authors, publishers, and other relevant organizations to gather materials and establish an editorial board.
E-Pustakalaya has already formed partnerships with organizations such as Room to Read, Save the Children, Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya, Rato Bangala Foundation, and World Education Nepal. OLE Nepal is in the process of forming a partnership with the Nepal Water Conservation Foundation as well.
In April 2009, OLE Nepal will launch the pilot phase of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program in over 25 schools in six districts across Nepal. This will significantly expand the reach of E-Pustakalaya, allowing students to access it through intranet setups at schools. Teacher training will also include sessions on using E-Pustakalaya, educating teachers on how to creatively integrate the library's materials into their classrooms.
E-Pustakalaya is built using two primary pieces of software: Fedora Commons, which powers the library's backend, and Fez, which serves as the frontend. Fez has been heavily customized to make the library more user-friendly and better suited to its educational goals.
Currently, registered users can access features such as bookmarking up to 20 favorite links. Future features like ratings, blogging, and others will also be available for registered users. The interface is primarily in Nepali, but an English version is being planned to cater to a more diverse audience.
E-Pustakalaya offers a wide variety of materials, totaling 373 entries to date. The library is divided into seven main sections:
In addition to literature in both Nepali and English, highlights include audio books, a Nepali dictionary from Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya, School Wikipedia, a growing map section, educational videos, and a Balwiki (Children’s wiki) aimed at encouraging knowledge exchange among children.
E-Pustakalaya also links to OLE Nepal’s E-Paath activities, which are interactive digital lessons aligned with Nepal’s national curriculum. These can currently be accessed through the digital library, but downloading them will be available soon.
OLE Nepal has set up a feedback form to ensure the library is responsive to the needs of its users. In the future, a Community/News and Events page will allow users to blog, share information, and engage in dialogue with teachers and students from around the world.
The project has gained momentum, with enthusiastic responses from authors and organizations, many of whom see the value in contributing to this innovative digital library. There's strong potential for adding more materials to the archive, enhancing its content and accessibility even further.